


The Angel of Snark

by ceirdwenfc



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Angels, Gabriel (Supernatural) - Freeform, Hammer of the Gods, Meta, Other, changing channels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-26
Updated: 2013-02-26
Packaged: 2017-12-03 18:05:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,362
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/701117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ceirdwenfc/pseuds/ceirdwenfc
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I started out wanting to write about the multi-dimensional characterization of Gabriel, the Patron Angel of Snark, but once I start free flowing ideas, I kind of get off topic and blow through tangents a little too fast. Hopefully, all of that was fixed in the editing, but if not, feedback and discussion about the character are welcome.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Angel of Snark

With Supernatural I use the word 'favorite' a lot. That's because the story, the writing, the acting, it's so good that every time I see something new, learn something new, it becomes my favorite until the next time.

At the end of Changing Channels, in the warehouse, when they've trapped Gabriel, I feel so much for him right there. The Herald, the Messenger Angel. We do always blame, kill, shoot the messenger, don't we?

He really tells Sam and Dean the truth, and he's the only one who does. None of the tricks – the Trickster episodes – those were the fables, like Aesop. Gabriel speaks the truth, and he is the veritable, lost, lonely, sick of the family politics, perfect middle child. Always looked aside, dismissed, waiting for big brother Michael to step aside from perfection and little brother Lucifer to stop being so selfish and self-absorbed. When will Daddy pay attention to me?

And regardless of actual age or familial order, he is the middle child, wanting to perform for the 'good' side and wanting to stay friends with the 'less good/bad' side.

Whether or not he agrees with the coming Apocalypse or with Dean to try to avoid it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter, and he still won't interfere with the plan. He will make sure that Sam and Dean are where they need to be; he will make sure that they have all of the information that they need because it has to play out. He's been told his whole existence that it has to play out and he knows better than to come between his brothers; his bigger than life brothers. And that goes for the Winchester brothers as well.

And holy shit, the look Cas gives Gabriel when he snaps him back, bloody nose and everything. It wasn't enough to see it once, the director went there twice, and I cringed. He is pissed. I don't recall ever seeing anyone looking that angry, although I will admit to being on the end of a phone call that sounded like that look. It was a scary look and I wondered when he'd kill Gabriel.

It's the look that mixes anger, and betrayal, and love and contempt and Misha's eyes, wow, they have more lines in the script than Cas does in that moment.

It's very powerful, both for Misha Collins and Richard Speight, Jr. For Misha, the controlled bubbling up of anger and a hint of ashamed and contrition passes across Gabriel's face and then slight terror as they walk away from him.

They turn their back on him, something he gets from his family as if he no longer matters.

That hurts.

After a while, he really did think that he was helping them come around, not just to the inevitable but to their obligation.

And the very end, when Dean won't leave him there; Dean shows his compassionate side despite what Gabriel has put him through how many times now? I love his pulling the fire alarm and setting off the sprinklers.

For one, it is very much something that Gabriel as the Trickster would do. He easily could have asked Cas to get him out (I may be wrong, but I believe that there was one time he wasn't in the holy fire and he was able to extinguish it) or give him something to make a bridge across it, but he didn't do that.

Second, I believe that this was supposed to be very symbolic of Noah and the Ark. The rain for forty days and forty nights. You can build an ark and be rescued, G-d will show you mercy or you can wait for the flood and be swept away. And once the rain stops, the old world is gone and the new one is ready to begin again without sin. Two of every animal, of every being. Which two angels would we see surviving? Michael and Lucifer are expected to kill each other – it's been said many times. Noah had his Apocalypse, and this drenching rain on Gabriel is a reminder of that, a question for him to choose a side – life or death – G-d's laws or chaos.

Dean's right – this is about how he has not stood up to his family, something Dean probably should have done with his own father. Aren't our own parents gods in our eyes? Gabriel knows it too, but he wants the love of his father and his brothers, the same as Dean has always wanted. Neither wanting to admit, even to themselves that the other is a reflection of himself.

This show has more parallels than a six lane superhighway.

And breaking the fourth wall! Shit, these guys have sledgehammers in every nook and corner of that set!

Dean: "I wish we were on a TV show."

Sam: "Yeah, me, too."

Clever. How many times do we here this? That subtle reminder that they are thinking of us, the audience, that we are a part of their existence, their lives, their wins and losses.

I skipped the rest of the Trickster episodes (Tall Tales and Mystery Spot) and went straight to Hammer of the Gods.

At the beginning of Hammer of the Gods, Sam makes mention that it's _Noah's Ark outside_ referring to the _Biblical_ proportion of the rain. I don't know if that was an intentional nod to what I said earlier with the sprinklers (which was the last time we saw Gabriel), but it's not like the writers don't write things in for themselves – inside jokes and foreshadowing. I mean, Lord knows that the fourth wall moments are intentional. No one accidentally mentions being on a television show when they're filming a television show. Looking at the camera I can forgive, but looking at the camera and winking or a similar facial gesture? I would bet that a lot of that is intentional.

I know that Gabriel's been in several episodes, but it was really these two (Changing Channels and Hammer of the Gods) that we got to see Gabriel for who he really is. Not simply the Trickster or the Archangel, but his running away was what both, actually all three of them: Sam, Dean and Castiel wanted to do. If they could do it without the guilt or the aftermath for the people they care about, they would get in that Impala and keep driving.

Their flaw was that they still wanted to save the world, and for a while Gabriel didn't, he just didn't care, and I believe that it goes back to parental approval. He wants it so badly. He wants it so badly _he_ could be an honorary Winchester.

 Do you think that if Gabriel's Father came back and gave him just a bit of attention he might have helped one of his brothers, rather than causing trouble for their vessels?

Mystery Spot and Changing Channels were both to teach the Winchesters lessons on responsibility, that you can't escape your family, some things you can't say no to, things you were born to do, and those were all lessons that Gabriel needed to learn as well.

I wouldn't go so far as to call Sam and Dean enemies of Gabriel, maybe adversaries is a better term, but he did have to join forces with them against his prior judgment in the end. And when he 'died' the first time by Kali's hand, where did he go?

He didn't run away, and he could have. He hid in Dean's car, and asked Dean to be saved by him. He gave in to Humanity's demands and was willing to get the prisoners out of the motel. Once he had joined forces with the Winchesters, he was lost, although lost isn't the right description. In their humanity, he found his own resolve, his determination not to be the fuck up of the family.

He found his redemption.

He could find his forgiveness for G-d, but Lucifer had to be stopped, and in this moment, he was the only one who could stop him; at least, attempt to stop him.

In all of the interactions with the angels, they all take on a very formal air. Michael speaks very respectfully to Lucifer, even Rafael to Castiel. Lucifer is very willing to follow the rules. He could just kill Dean, but he doesn't. It is kind of funny that Lucifer really doesn't manipulate anyone. He's not evil; he has his core beliefs and he follows the rules such that they are.

Gabriel is the only one who doesn't follow this formality. He whines, he complains, he begs, he manipulates, he name calls.

Gabriel breaks the rules, much like Cas does. He does it for different reasons, and even while he's trying to make the Apocalypse happen, he never lets anyone know what the stake is for him. It's just assumed that he's the Trickster and it's the chaos that he craves, but it's more than that.

In the warehouse (CC), he sounds just like Dean. "I want it to be over. I'm tired."

And that is Dean's impetus to say grow the fuck up and then to say it to himself. He knows he has a job to do, and he needs to stop letting the angels pull the strings and take his autonomy back.

Gabriel is the only one who talks back to Lucifer. If he had capitulated – lied and begged Lucifer's forgiveness – something I would have expected Gabriel to do just to get away, he would have survived. Lucifer would have let him go. He is his brother after all.

As I mentioned in brief above, Gabriel not only talks back, but he calls Lucifer names. He tries to emasculate him by calling him Lucy and he inserts his own brand of humor, adding, "I'm home" with the slight accent and despite the seriousness that we know is coming with this confrontation, we smile. I can't be the only one who pictured Gabriel as Desi Arnaz to Lucifer's red haired Lucille Ball.

He tells him that he loves him. He acknowledges their relationship, he gets acknowledgement in return from Lucifer, and then he calls him a great big bag of dicks. To be honest, this might be my favorite moment in the entire series. For me, it sums up Supernatural in a way that explaining it just misses the mark, but maybe that's just me.

This snippet of the dance between Gabriel and Lucifer is dynamic. It's everything that Gabriel really isn't. It's bold. It's brave. It's so much emotion, and the audience as well as Lucifer knows that despite Gabriel's snark, this is one of the more serious encounters either has had.

It has the surprising funny line, the off color humor of using dicks (and remember this was before Dick Roman when dick was every other word), the gentle way he reminds Lucifer that they're brothers, implying that he should remember their connection, their loyalty, the sweetness of telling his brother that he loves him, standing up to someone whose vessel is not only taller and stronger than Gabriel's but the angel within is much more powerful. Calling him a child having a tantrum. The jealousy – Dad always loved you best.

Gabriel is showing more bravery than we've ever seen. He knows he can't beat Lucifer and he's standing up. He's toe to toe with his brother, with Satan, and his brother is scarier. Family does things to us that no one else can, and Gabriel knows it; it's why he ran away and never stopped.

He's already given Dean the DVD; he knows he will die. He knows he's no match for Lucifer.

He still goes ahead. He still does it. He sacrifices himself so that the Winchesters can get away, and take Kali, the woman who tried to kill him, the woman that he didn't quite trust enough to give her the real angel blade, but that he loves enough to save in what ultimately are his last moments.

This is one of those things that Supernatural does very well. You get all of the sides of a character and by the time you've figured them out, and you're in love with them, they are going to fall, and fall hard. They will die in horrific ways. They won't be coming back. And a character like Gabriel, who up until this point, I would have described as a recurring, but throwaway character became someone I loved and was so upset to see go, and in looking back at his arc saw the intricate web that the writers created for us to ignore and laugh at him, and at the same time showing us who he was on the inside and making us care, so that by the time Hammer of the Gods came around, we were rooting for him. We wouldn't let Dean and Sam leave without him, and then he sacrifices himself for Kali and the Winchesters. He had no hope of surviving and he stayed anyway. He could have zapped himself out of there, and using the projection wasn't cocky.

At that point, he did think he was going to get away with it; he was going to do what no one else had been able to and his projection gave him away, looking up and over Lucifer's shoulder. It was very subtle, but we all have our little flinches. Gabriel was only surprised that Lucifer turned to kill him because he had already gotten so close. He thought he'd made it.

In the moments that he gives Dean the DVD, and he's returned to help, my heart did a little fist pump, thinking he would save the day. He redeemed himself and they'd get out, scratched and burned, but out to fight another day.

And we also know from experience scorched wings means they're not coming back. I do wonder if Gabriel's wingspan is an indication of the man, of the angel that he is, that he was in those last moments because he was a fine example to give to Dean, who has more in common with him than either would admit.


End file.
